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Wages of Estonian military to grow to level 1/3 higher than natl avearge

(Adds paras 4-5, 7-8)

TALLINN, Feb 13, BNS – According to the development plan of the Defense Ministry's area of government for the next four years, the wages of active service military personnel are set to grow to a level higher by one-third than the national average wage.

The development plan for the domain of national defense for 2019–2022 envisages a pay increase of about one-third for people in active military service to a level where it would be higher by one-third than the national average wage, officials said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

The commander of the defense forces, Gen. Riho Terras, told reporters on Tuesday that the pay increase for active service personnel is one of the most important priorities of the development plan for him. The defense chief said that the last major increase in the pay of defense personnel took place in 2013, after which wages have risen by as much as the consumer price index.

Terras said that an in-depth study conducted by the defense forces indicates that a pay one-third higher than the national average wage is a level at which the defense forces could hire personnel.

"The number of people is limited," the defense chief said. In this context he described also raising the numbers of conscript personnel as important, as it increases the number of people from among whom active service personnel can be hired.

"Equipment, warehouses, infrastructure make no sense when we have no professional active service personnel capable of leading the training of a reservist army," Luik said. The minister pointed out that there are many parties competing for workforce on the labor market.

"The profession of a military officer is not an easy one. A person must have profound interest and patriotism to choose this profession. We must ensure them as good pay terms as possible," the minister said, describing the planned pay increase as remarkable.

The secretary general of the Defense Ministry, Jonatan Vseviov, said that the defense forces as an employer must keep pace with the labor market, where wages have been growing of late.